The death penalty is a cruel, futile and dangerous punishment, and the Asian region is home to some of the world's leading executioners.
This blog provides information about the death penalty in Asia, supporting the campaign to end executions in the region.

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

In the past month, two Vietnamese-born western citizens have seen very different outcomes in appeals against their sentences for drug offences.

The legal charity Repreive announced in early April that UK citizen Le Manh Luong was granted clemency by President Nguyen Minh Triet.

Repreive led a high-profile campaign on behalf of Mr Luong, who was sentenced to death in November 2006.

He was convicted along with three Vietnamese defendants for trafficking 339 kilograms of heroin through Viet Nam to Hong Kong and China.

In contrast, in mid-March an appeal court increased to death the sentence given to Vietnamese-Australian Jasmine Luong, according to an AFP report.

Ms Luong was arrested in Tan Son Nhat airport in February 2007 with nearly 1.5 kilograms of heroin hidden in her luggage and shoes.

Prosecutors appealed against the original life sentence imposed in December 2007.

Clemency hopeShe now has the right to appeal to the president for clemency, and the Sydney Morning Herald reported the Australian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister were expected to support an appeal.

The decision to grant clemency to Mr Luong should raise hopes that she would also be successful in having her death sentence overturned.

Five Australians have had their death sentences commuted in Viet Nam since 2003, in all five cases with the support of strong representations from the Australian government appealing for the sentences to be commuted.

Another Australian citizen, Tony Manh, is waiting for a response to his application for clemency, after an appeal court confirmed his death sentence in November 2007 for heroin trafficking.

'Debt forced decision'According to the report by the Sydney Morning Herald, Ms Luong was expected to argue in her application for clemency that she agreed to carry the drugs to pay her estranged husband's gambling debts.

The newspaper said she claimed she was offered $US15,000 (AUD$16,620) by an unidentified man to carry the drugs to Sydney, and given $US4700 payment in advance.

Her two children were being cared for by relatives in Sydney.

'What is heroin?'According to information released by Reprieve, Mr Luong suffered from brain damage after his house was bombed by a US B-52 bomber during the Viet Nam War.

The organisation said he suffered from clinical depression and displayed suicidal tendencies, and his lawyer believed the other defendants used him as a scapegoat, knowing of his mental health issues.

Mr Luong reportedly asked the court during his trial questions such as: "What is heroin?" and "What is a weapon?"

His niece and family spokesperson, Thanh Le, said in a Reprieve statement that "he will [now] have the horrific ankle and wrist shackles removed".

"My uncle’s death sentence has put an incredible strain on the family but we have been overwhelmed by the support for him," she said.

The fate of Mr Luong's Vietnamese co-defendants has not been reported.

Sunday, 20 April 2008

China's Chief Justice has said violent criminals should be severely punished, including with death sentences, marking a clear departure from his predecessor who encouraged a 'cautious' use of the death penalty.

President of the Supreme People's Court, Wang Shengjun, said during a court inspection in Guangdong province that tough sentences were necessary to ensure the public's sense of security.

"Courts at all levels should severely punish those violent criminals that seriously jeopardize public security, especially those involved in gangsters or organized crimes and terrorism," Wang said in a report by state-run newsagency Xinhua.

According to The Associated Press he added: "Where the law mandates the death sentence, the death sentence should be given."

Wang said crimes that involved terrorism, organised groups or violence, and crimes that "seriously threaten social order" should be dealt with especially harshly.

His remarks contrasted with the more measured approach of the previous Chief Justice, Xiao Yang, who in November 2006 urged the country's courts to use "extreme caution" when handing down death sentences and said every judgement should "stand the test of time".

"In cases where the judge has legal leeway to decide whether to order death, he should always choose not to do so," Xiao Yang said, according to a Xinhua report.

The death sentence should be reserved for only an "extremely small number" of serious offenders, he said.

Fewer, but necessaryA senior Chinese judge recently said more death sentences were overturned on appeal last year, but the death penalty was still needed in the country.

Huang Ermei, head of the Supreme People's Court criminal case chamber, said in March that the death penalty suited the country's current level of development and was needed to deter crime.

The Associated Press reported her comments were posted in an interview on the government China Peace Web site.

"Abolishing the death penalty is an international trend in punishment, but this trend cannot be divorced from a country's own conditions," Huang said.

"Currently our country does not have the conditions to abolish the death penalty and will not have those conditions for a considerable period of time."

She said the Supreme People's Court last year rejected 15 per cent of death sentences imposed by local courts.

Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Asian countries have once again lead the world's known executions, according to annual statistics released today by Amnesty International (AI).

The human rights organisation reported that during 2007, at least 1252 people were executed in 24 countries, and at least 3347 people were sentenced to death in 51 countries.

Ten countries accounted for 1205 of the known executions in the past year -- or 96 per cent of the global total.

Half of these ten countries are in Asia, between them accounting for 962 of known executions -- 77 per cent of the global total.

The top ten executioners included:

China 470+Iran 317+Pakistan 135+Viet Nam 25+Afghanistan 15

The statistics recorded a drop in the number of known executions in China, but sharp increases in the numbers recorded in Iran, Pakistan and Viet Nam.

China recorded a drop from more than 1010 known executions in 2006.

In Iran there were 177 executions counted in 2006, Pakistan 82 and Viet Nam 14.

AI estimated the global death row population was between 18,311 and 27,562 people at the end of 2007, based on the number of people thought to be condemned to death and awaiting execution.

Brutal secretsThese figures must be taken with caution, however, since they record only those executions that are publicly known.

For a penalty that is shrouded in such secrecy in many countries, the true number of executions each year is certainly significantly higher.

The AI reportDeath sentences and executions in 2007 highlighted China, Singapore, Malaysia and Mongolia as among the many countries that "carry out executions in secret and refuse to divulge any information on the use of the death penalty".

"The United Nations has repeatedly called for the death penalty only to be used in an open and transparent manner," AI said.

It said China was "the world's top executioner", classifying the death penalty as a state secret.

"As the world and Olympic guests are left guessing, only the Chinese authorities know exactly how many people have been killed with state authorization," AI said in a media release.

"The secretive use of the death penalty must stop: the veil of secrecy surrounding the death penalty must be lifted. Many governments claim that executions take place with public support. People therefore have a right to know what is being done in their name."

North KoreaUnknown number of executionsUnknown number of death sentences

Pakistan135+ executions307+ death sentences

Papua New Guinea3+ death sentences

Singapore2 executions2 death sentences

South Korea2 death sentences

Sri Lanka10+ death sentences

Taiwan5 death sentences

Thailand6+ death sentences

Viet Nam25+ executions83+ death sentences

AI said it was concerned that Mongolia and Malaysia may have executed people, but "due to the secretive nature of the use of the death penalty the organization was unable to obtain reliable information".

Saturday, 12 April 2008

Japan has executed 20 people since December 2006. All were hanged for crimes including murder.

Ten executions were approved by the current Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama, who was appointed on 27 August 2007.

The other ten were executed in eleven months by his predecessor, Jinen Nagase, who was appointed Justice Minister on 26 September 2006. At the time he left office, it was the highest number of executions approved by any one justice minister since a moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in 1993.

Japan hanged four death row prisoners on Thursday this week (10 April), marking a sharp increase in the rate of hangings in the past two years.

The latest executions bring to ten the number of death warrants approved by Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama. He has approved in four months the same number of hangings his predecessor approved in 11 months.

The justice ministry confirmed the identity of the four men, only the third time it had done so. They were Katsuyoshi Nakamoto, 64, Masaharu Nakamura, 61, Masahito Sakamoto, 41, and Kaoru Okashita, 61.

Nakamoto and Nakamura were hanged in Osaka, and Sakamoto and Okashita in Tokyo.

The BBC online reported that Hatoyama dismissed concerns about the increase in executions.

"I have not paid any attention to the interval [since February's executions]," he told reporters.

"As justice minister, I am simply carrying out the demands of the law."

As well as the rate of executions increasing, it also appears the minister is moving to implement faster executions after a death sentence is confirmed, something he called for in September 2007.

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported three of the four men executed were hanged within four years of their death sentences being finalised. During the previous decade, the average wait was about eight years.

Human rights concernHuman rights organisation Amnesty International said it deeply regretted the latest executions, and expressed its alarm at the current rate of hangings.

The organisation's Japan chapter condemned the executions and questioned the guilt of three of the men hanged.

"It is unforgivable that the executions were again conducted secretly," said spokesperson Makoto Teranaka, according to a report by the AFP newsagency.

"Observing the current pace of executions, we can't help but predict a huge number of executions this year, which goes totally against the world trend of abolishing capital punishment and is a shame on Japan."

The organisation said two of the executed prisoners were acquitted in early trials, and a third continued to insist on his innocence. It said the fourth may have been mentally ill.

Concerns about the pace of executions were echoed in a statement issued by Amnesty International in London.

"We are extremely concerned about the increased number of executions,” the statement said.

"We call on the Japanese government to adopt an immediate moratorium on executions in accordance with last year's UN resolution."

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions as a step towards abolition, by a majority of 104 votes to 54.

A poet silencedAccording to the AFP report, the four executed this week included a poet who wrote traditional poetry expressing remorse for the two murders for which he was convicted.

Kaoru Okashita, who also used the surname Akinaga, wrote traditional tanka poetry on death row.

The head of a tanka club who published Okashita's poetry said he regularly sent her poems and she had only just sent back the latest proof-read verse.

"He once told me he hoped to live until next year when our group's tanka anthology is published. But his wish wasn't realised," Keiko Mitsumoto said.

"His poetry was very, very gentle and even offered solace and encouragement to me. I could hardly believe he would commit murder.

"He said he feared the day would suddenly come when the footsteps of a guard would stop in front of his cell to announce his execution.

"He seemed prepared for that, though, along with not meeting those close to him for a final farewell."

Wednesday, 9 April 2008

South Korean prosecutors will seek sentences of life imprisonment or the death penalty for people who have sexually assaulted and killed children under 13 years of age, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Justice in early April.

The Ministry presented the proposal to a Cabinet meeting following the sexual abuse and murder of two children in December and an attempted kidnapping in March.

"Such criminals who commit sexual assaults and murder after kidnapping children should be subject to stiff penalties such as life imprisonment or capital punishment,'' Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said after the meeting, according to The Korea Times.

"Crimes against children cannot be tolerated at all," he said.

"Ministries related to public security should map out measures against such inhumane crimes."

The Ministry has proposed other measures to combat a reported rise in sexual assaults on children. These include the creation of a DNA database to help monitor sex offenders and an increase in the minimum sentence for sex offences against children to seven years.

South Korea was declared abolitionist "in practice" on 30 December 2007, after it had not executed anyone for 10 years. It brought to 135 the number of countries that have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

The Korea Times said in its editorial that the country needed stiffer prison sentences and improved medical treatment of paedophiles and other sex offenders.

In November 2007, the newspaper called for complete abolition of the death penalty, saying the National Assembly should deal with an abolition bill before it "as soon as possible".

"Human judgment isn't perfect. Once someone is executed, there is no way to reverse this even if the person is later found to be innocent," the newspaper said.